Flight Canceled While Traveling Solo? What To Do (2024 IT Outage)
If you got your flight canceled while traveling solo this is the post for you. I feel like we all experience this at some point in our lives. But the 2024 IT outage was a unique experience. This was not the usual flight cancellation. Money was not getting returned. People were left abandoned. Sadly, I happened to be one of those people. As someone who has flown to busy airports like in NYC, Atlanta and more – this LAX experience last year had to be one of the most chaotic of my life.
This was because last year in 2024, there was an IT outage. Unfortunately, many airlines were not prepared for this. So hella delayed flights. But I was on a mission from Minneapolis to Los Angeles for an important video project.
Before leaving Minneapolis, I hoped that my flight wasn’t going to get cancelled. I arrived at MPLS Airport and voila. It was my lucky day! One of the Delta flights to LA was cancelled but mine wasn’t. So I got on the plane and arrived in LA with no problems.
I was hopeful to soon though because on my way back, I ran into issues.
My Cancelled Flight Timeline
First my flight was delayed I think about 2-3 times. Then they delayed it backwards? For example it was first delayed to 11? and then 10pm? Then maybe around 10/11pm it was cancelled.
When we were notified, I tried to remain calm. Don’t worry, just go to the Delta customer service line and you will be alright. But I got to the line and it was long… filled with understandably very angry people. Because we all knew the truth. Yes it was delayed but Delta probably knew it was going to be cancelled from the beginning. So instead of cancelling it close to midnight it should have been cancelled at 6pm – the original flight time.
I want to first name that I was flying Delta airlines. Usually Delta is great. But this time I learned that they don’t know how to handle IT outages well. While Delta was struggling other airlines were up and running again. Just noting this so y’all consider possible airlines to travel during IT outages in the future.
While waiting in line, some of us were also calling Delta. Their wait time was ridiculous though since this was happening nationwide. Then suddenly there was an announcement at the Delta customer service desk. “We will be closing at 12 and opening up again at 3am”.
So now what?
This should be the first step one takes. Now it’s up to you to determine the risk you want to take flying certain airlines. I didn’t want to fly Spirit even though at the moment they may have ben the cheapest option. That was because I had my pricey camera equipment. So I didn’t want to risk those items getting damaged or lost. Or paying hella extra money for that cost.
But then a lot of other airlines had ridiculous prices. It was actually cheaper to fly from Los Angeles to NYC than Los Angeles to Minneapolis. So the idea of taking another airline went out the window quite quickly for me. Although I was in a situation where my flight canceled while traveling solo, money still added up on my own.
#2 Look At Surrounding States Of Your Final Destination
Then I finally started looking at the midwest map to see if there were states close to Minneapolis that I could fly to. I realized two things. Number one, I didn’t know midwest states like that or their location. Number two, the only 2 big airports with straight flights were Chicago & Minneapolis.
I remember talking to one guy who was going to try taking a train from Los Angeles to Minneapolis? I thought that was kind of extreme. But be creative in ways to get to your destination. That could mean flying to North Dakota then taking the bus to Minneapolis. Or in my case, it looked like flying to Chicago then taking the AMTRAK to Minneapolis.
#3 Look For Local Aiports
THIS is the jackpot right here. I did not think about other airports locally. I was at LAX so I looked at ONLY LAX and not into other small airports close-ish.
But a random man started to help me. He showed me flighthub.com which showed cheaper flights. It gave me the option for a flight with United Airlines from a local airport that was approximately 45 minutes from LAX. I had not seen this option before when I had mainly looked at google flights and travelocity.
This man was a God send seriously because at that point I was lost since my flight cancelled while traveling solo. I was on my own. Some people were going to be stuck in LA for a couple of more days or even next week. I knew that I didn’t have the time, resources or money for that.
#4 Go On Social Media
This might sound counterintuitive. Like girl you want me to post my personal ish on the internet? What that finna do? Hear me out. When I posted on socials I rambled as a joke.
But it led to some people that I didn’t expect to reach out and check on me. There is a way to use social media to your benefit. Luckily the random man I met already helped me. But if I was still stuck those people who reached out would have been a big help.
So rely on your immediate community and don’t neglect the power or usefulness of a virtual community either.
#5 Embrace The Chaos Of A Flight Canceled While Traveling Solo
For some reason when bad things happens I find them comical. People told me they couldn’t believe I went through that. But I cackled during this. The whole time I thought this will be a great story to tell my kids in the future. Being in circumstances where one has a flight canceled while traveling solo can be scary.
By embracing the chaos I stayed pretty calm. Granted I had the privilege to laugh because finances were not the worst. Still anxiety inducing but I now LOVE telling this story. I got to finish the Supacell show, post some chaotic instagram stories and most importantly explore a new city on my own — Chicago.
In the next post, I’ll talk more about falling in love with my city husband, Chicago next week.
